Diamonds and Rust: Short Story

Children ran naked in the streets, ruddy from the cold. Their faces dirty, their hair long and tangled. Little clouds of vapor escaped their hungry mouths. They lived in darkness, the pools of shadow and vacant alleys of once living cities. It was all that was left of humanity.

Some died of starvation, any that happened to be in the streets were as dangerous as wolves. Their frail bodies hid a ravenous hunger and a never-ending thirst. The only thing left to eat and drink in these cities was our own flesh and blood.

The cities where a stark contrast to the remnants of life found in their shadows, giant diamond encrusted monuments. Gold plated trimmings, platinum and titanium facades the most durable and expensive materials arched above the streets, glistening like an echo in the sunset sky.

About five years ago by an American quantum physicist succeeded where alchemist had failed centuries ago. Almost immediately winning the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Science and Peace, he was on the cover of every magazine.

The technology was summed up easily enough; you take one object like garbage and change the molecules around to create something else like diamond. The technology was quickly mass-produced allowing mankind to have unlimited resources.

It was a dream of never ending prosperity, but almost as soon as it began the price of unlimited riches steepened. People traded their most valuable possessions, for more diamonds, more wealth, it was never enough. People traded their children, their lovers, their arms, their legs and even their organs. It was horrendous what people did for one more hit of wealth.

There were riots from religious groups and the people who saw into the moral abyss. Fires raged at street level, blood and diamonds flowed together in rust colored mud. Violence was all the chance of prosperity brought. Satan’s handprints were visible during humanities last days, manipulating it in twisted ways. It was something out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting; disfigured, limbless torsos, eyeless faces, toothless mouths gaping at the sky. Mankind had cannibalized itself for material wealth.

Thank God those days didn’t last. Or even the few of us alive today wouldn’t have survived.